Governor Nasir El-rufai, has disclosed that Kaduna state has attracted both domestic and foreign investments worth about $800 million since 2015, with investors pledging a further $2.1bn.
El Rufai who gave an overview of what the previous summits have achieved, said that ‘’Kaduna has faced fiscal headwinds as a result of Covid-19 pandemic, with several mitigating strategies aimed at repositioning the state to maintain solvency and emerge stronger post pandemic.’’
According to the governor during the opening of the economic summit in Kaduna today tagged KADINVEST 5.0, he said KADINVEST 1.0 attracted 25 businesses and local as well as foreign investments worth $500 million.
‘’The summit also facilitated investments through the creation of a one-stop shop and operationalising of the ease of doing business charter, to break down barriers to investments and expansion of the fiscal space,’’ he added.
El Rufai further said that the second edition of the summit, KADINVEST 2.0, witnessed the launching of Kaduna State Development Plan(SDP) and ‘’Sector Implementation Plan(SIP) as a vehicle to achieving SDP through annual budgeting framework.’’
‘’The Ease of Doing Business charter, Bus Rapid Transit(BRT) system, the Eyes and Ears Citizens Engagement platform were all launched at KADINVEST 2.0,’’ he added.
According to him, a three-year Memorandum of Understand(MoU) with the United States Agency for International Development(USAID), to help drive the economic development of the state was signed at the event.
He further said that that edition of the summit attracted ‘’a number of foreign Direct Investment in the state, especially Olam Poultry and Feedmill, Mass Housing at Millennium City and KADICT.’’
The governor also said that Kaduna State Infrastructure Masterplan(2015-2050), 14 + investments solidified through foreign and local domestic investments, were launched at the third edition of KADINVEST 3.0.
El Rufai said that the summit focused on building human capital, adding that it attracted 79% Foreign Direct Investment and 21% Domestic Investment.
‘’Last year, KADINVEST 4.0 focused on the operationalisation of Kaduna Industrial Plan and Improvement of the investment portfolio by 300%’’, he further pointed out.
The governor said that Kaduna was launched into the Industry 4.0 phase by focusing on developing a knowledge driven economy while revamping industries, during the summit.
El Rufai said that Kaduna state took some measures in order to mitigate the effects of Covid-19, by commencing staff verification and screening to reduce overhead cost.According to him, the government revised the 2020 budget to manage the revenue and expenditure impact of Covid-19.
It will be recalled that the maiden edition of KADINVEST 1.0 was held from 6th to 7th April, 2016, with the theme, ‘’Let’s Move Kaduna into the Global Economy’’.
The annual summit has been held since 2016 but this is the first time that the event will hold virtually and the theme of KADINVEST 5.0 is, ‘’Infrastructure, Industrialisation and Innovation.’’
